bruno = amazing

so after i ate a hamburger, the next thing i had to do upon my return to the states was watch the bruno movie.  i’ve been following the hubbub on the interwebz, where the right-wing fundies and the privileged liberal elite agreed that bruno should not be allowed in theaters.  the god-hates-fags community and their sympathizers disliked all the penises and bdsm and make out scenes, duh.  the Gay Elite decided bruno is a negative stereotype of gay men (he’s definitely not an assimilationist, monogamous, “we’re just like you,” straight-acting type).  a lot of hating going on, for sure.  i had to reserve judgement until i saw it.

just got back from the theater, and it was so. good.

yummy deconstruction full of spoilers coming soon!

fierce vogue-ing group on ABDC

omg so i just got back to the states and i’m watchin the season 4 premier of america’s best dance crew (mario lopez is such a cutie!) and out comes VOGUE EVOLUTION, the fiercest group to ever be featured on network tv. straight outta new york city’s ball scene, Dashaun Williams, Devon Webster, Malechi Williams, Leiomy Maldonado, and Jorel Rios are bringing a long history of queer black and latin@ underground dance into american media’s mainstream.  you know i have a soft spot for my fellow trans folx so i wanna highlight leiomy, she is beyond fabulous, and i was blown away by her energy on stage.  i hope i can work my body with pride and confidence like that someday.  anyway, super psyched on vogue evolution, massive amounts of love and support to them.

from their bio on mtv:

The guys [sic], who were once competitors in the underground “ball” scene, decided to take ABDC by storm and create a performing group under the direction of Devon and Dashaun. What they came up with was the best of the best in their scene. But dancing isn’t the only thing these guys do. They have a hand in educating their community on HIV/AIDS and the importance of getting tested.

The crew is a dance power house group. Each member has surpassed incredible feats at young ages, from numerous awards to appearances on television. More notably, Pony choreographed for Mariah Carey and Dashaun is even the creator of the “5,000” dance move.

Why does Vogue Evolution think they’ll take the ABDC crown? “Our style has been replicated by so many people that do not execute the specific steps correctly,” Dashuan says. “We as a crew selected the best from the scene to show the mainstream where it’s from.”

american politics diagram

gender venn

simple diagram

‘phobia of self’ by shanice thompson

Phobia of Self:

Ya know what is petrifying about Darkness?
in darkness, we are alone
and forced to be more aware of ourselves than ever before
and that’s intimidating.
is it possible to have a phobia of self?
Or is this another dead tangent in my thoughts.
Phobia of self.
in being over aware and over analyzing of ourselves
at some point or one point
we see and feel what we are made of
we see and feel what we are capable of doing
whether it be ‘bad’ or ‘good’
‘evil’ or ‘righteous’
we are now at a realization
and at this realization
we become unsure of how to keep going
because there’s always an option that we can’t permit ourselves to take
whether it be because of morals or ethics or…fear
and at this point of uncertainty
we are really at a phobia of self
or a phobia of self-realization

Shanice Thompson

new contributor at MQ!!

shanice thompson is a rad youth activist that goes to my old  high school (nightmare prep).  i met shanice through my sister, after they taught together at a breakthrough program.  she’s a super cute GQ with open eyes and a big heart.  a rising junior, shanice is hoping to win the vp seat at the relatively new GSA.  i am blown away that such a huge advance has been made since i graduated in 2003, when i could not have even imagined such a possibility, although from what i hear a nasty backlash of hate and institutional discrimination has manifested since the club’s inception.  all the more reason to stand in solidarity with the queer youth as they make revolution by holding hands, stealing kisses, dancing with their partners at school functions, and ORGANIZING.  and don’t forget their daring, fabulous fashion.

welcome, shanice, to MIXEDQUEER!

depression

this is my formal apology to myself and the world for letting 6 days go by without an update.  as many trans folx can relate to, i’ve been fighting depression for as long as i can remember.  as i explained to my mom, my emotional landscape goes from gentle sadness to severe depression.  when i get down to a certain level, i have a very hard time allowing myself to create things.  i actually wrote a number of articles in the last week, but most of them remain unfinished and all unpublished.  i made a number of images, but erased them all.  this is normal for me.  but it is not good for a blog.

in related news, i’ve been working on recruiting some of my (creative, fabulous, smartypants) friends to contribute to the blog.  i’d like to one day have a group of editors all making content for the site (email me if your interested! mixedqueer@gmail.com).

my friend jos recently was hired by feministing.com and just wrote a very succinct article on why she doesn’t support hate crimes legislation.  i actually wrote a little something on the subject after leslie mora was attacted a few weeks ago.  i think everyone should spend some time thinking about this, especially because the mainstream LGB movement wants us to blindly follow their assimilationist politics, and presents their agenda as ‘the’ LGBTQ agenda.

header mania

in last two days i did some remodeling of the website.  i needed to seperate the news portion of the site from the other stuff so all that good stuff wouldn’t drown in my obsessive news/blog reading addiction.  it feels a little roomier with the new layout, i got the mixedqueer newsfeed page looking good (gotta love that candy theme on gmail).

also,  i made a bunch of new headers, although i ended up using a quickly modified version of the old one, because it’s still my favorite.  here are the other ones i made:

thank you kristi

i just had to give some credit to my friend kristi who is responsible for the really sweet sculpture of pills i borrowed for my new header. you rock!